There is no shortage of unlikely scenarios that are more likely to happen than winning the lottery. For instance, your odds of getting struck by lightning (1 in 12,000) are higher than your odds of hitting the jackpot (roughly 1 in 292.2 million). But when has any of this ever stopped anyone from trying to figure out how to win the lottery? While it’s true that there is no way to predict the lottery numbers, there are a few other ways you can improve your chances of winning. Keep reading to find out how to boost those odds.
Easy come, easy go
Extensive research shows that many lottery winners never actually end up on easy street. According to the National Endowment for Financial Education, roughly 70% of lotto winners end up bankrupt within just a few years. But that hasn’t changed the minds of many people who still believe that winning the lottery is the best solution for all their money problems. Perhaps, this explains optimistic predictions about the global gambling market ballooning to $92.9 billion by 2023.
So, if you’re one of the many people spending countless hours online and searching for “how to win the lottery” tips on Youtube, we’ll walk you through a few quick steps that can help you improve your odds. First, here’s a low down on the rules of the game: Before you can hit the winning combination, you’ll have to purchase a physical or virtual ticket, pick your winning numbers by crossing out the ones you wish to play, and wait for one of the lotto draws.
Now cross your fingers and hope for the best. Much like online bingo sites, the lottery usually offers a variety of prize tires, so you won’t necessarily be left out in the cold if you don’t hit the jackpot.
Of course, if you’re already dreaming about winning the big prize, you’re probably asking one of the more obvious questions: if I win the lottery, how much goes to taxes? For UK residents, lottery winnings are tax free. However, if you deposit your winnings into a bank account, you’ll have to pay an income tax on the deposit interest. There is also a Gift Tax if you choose to give any of your winnings to friends and relatives, as well as an Inheritance Tax.
Shop till you drop
The first tactic you should employ to improve your chances of winning is to buy more lottery tickets. The more you play, the better your chances of beating the odds. This is one of the more common rules in most books on how to win the lottery. If you play once in a while, you’ll get that one chance. But if you play every week, you’ll tilt the odds in your favour. On the flip side, you might need to spend more money to win prizes. And although you can’t lose much if you don’t spend money on tickets, you can’t win much either.
Lottery Syndicates: share the fun
Joining forces (and funds) with your colleagues, friends, or members of online syndicates can significantly boost your chances of winning. 20% of all lotto winnings – 1 in 5 lottery prizes – are won by syndicates. You probably wouldn’t think to ask a group of Scottish nurses how to win the lottery, but they are the ones who won £1 million on EuroMillions in April 2018.
Teaming up with others means a bigger money pool and thus more tickets and lottery numbers. This gives you a better chance of hitting the jackpot. The downside is that you’ll have to share the earnings with others.
Give system betting a go
Selecting additional numbers on the lottery ticket on top of the standard combination might be costly but will definitely improve your chances of winning the top prize. If you want to know how to play the lottery and win, here’s an example: when you have a six-number combo that costs £2, play System 7 for an additional £12. By adding the 7th number, you’ll get seven potential winning combos instead of only one. With two extra numbers, System 8 gives you 28 combos to help you get rich. It’ll cost you a lot more, but you won’t regret it!
Not all lotteries are born equal
These days there are many lottery games at your disposal. Pick the one that has the odds stacked in your favour. When you start researching how to win the lottery, you’re guaranteed to stumble upon a long list of lotto games. If you opt for the UK national lottery draw, you’ll get a great combination between a big prize pool and favourable odds. When looking for the right lottery games, it’s better to pick those that offer better chances of winning rather than those with the biggest jackpots.
Picking random numbers
We know you know the answer to the question: how many numbers do you need to win the lottery? But the hard part is picking the correct numbers. You should avoid playing the same “lucky numbers” over and over again. And if you choose to cross out numbers based on the birthdays of your loved ones, you’ll significantly decrease your odds by limiting yourself to digits between 1 and 31. Also, don’t choose consecutive numbers as you’re most likely to get a similar combo to thousands of like-minded people. Instead of those patterns, pick totally random numbers and hope for the best.
Lottery in a nutshell
You won’t get the winning combination right away. You’ll have to be persistent and consistent in your efforts to hit the jackpot. That’s exactly what the Platinum Bingo Jackpot Winner, Christine Bradfield, did. She played religiously for more than a decade before earning her fortune. Of course, not everyone enjoys the limelight, and you might already be wondering how to remain anonymous if you win the lottery. This isn’t something you have to worry about, as strict privacy laws guarantee your anonymity.
Speaking of Bradfield, despite the millions she won, she has never given up playing bingo. So, if your numbers didn’t get drawn yet, don’t give up. Buy your next lottery ticket when the jackpot soars and the odds are in your favour. Then pick the numbers and remember to have some fun along the way.